Here on the North Shore we usually can ride all year long – but with the understanding that trail conditions will not be ideal. The conditions right now though are so amazing – the dirt is perfect! Here is a GoPro video of myself and Jon from Banshee riding some ‘Shore AM trails last Sunday. The Banshee Spitfire is such a fun bike on these types of flowy trails….Happy Holidays!!

North Shore XC from Jon Hadfield on Vimeo.

Love my Kelly jacket

The last two races were back to back, Mt. Washington followed by BC cup finals at Hemlock, and both were unbelievable courses.

I was lucky enough to get hooked up with transportation by CCN (Cycle Component Network) and Jay from Lambert. We rolled into Mt. Washington in style in the CCN truck, full of prizes and tools for race support.
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Hey,

Though it’s the off season now, I have actually been very busy with riding, training, school and planning for next season. I just recently got a Banshee Spitfire, which has been my “do it all” bike, it climbs with ease and descends like a big bike. A lot of my riding throughout the week has been with my Spitfire, as well as hitting the local dirt jumps on my Banshee Amp. I’m not one to go for the big tricks, but this past week I have learned tuck-no-handers, which I’m pretty stoked on.

I attended the first Cycling BC DH team testing camp a few weeks ago. We did a MAP test and a sprint test, which I was happy to see my work pay off and improve on both. There were also some sessions with a nutritionist, a mental trainer, a strength coach and even a yoga session.

Photo by Clayton Racicot. At the Western Open at Kicking Horse Resort.
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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to take part in a bicycle event in Shen Zhen, China. I never turn down the opportunity to visit a new country and I never turn down an invitation to ride my bike.

I talked to Simon at Saracen and he said he would hook me up with a new Amplitude frame to race 4X on. Because of the short time frame Saracen shipped the frame to Gravity Reaction Cycles in Hong Kong. If you are ever in Hong Kong and have some time to kill go see Kenneth at GRC. It is easy to find, they have an interesting selection of good and unlike a lot of shops in Hong Kong it is easy to find. I traveled from Taiwan to Hong Kong not knowing if my frame had arrived, I had a back pack full of parts including a fresh set of Green Atlas Cranks. Big thanks to Rob, Marcel and Derek for supplying me with cranks and a sweet retro Roach kit to race in.

The event was held in front of the Kind Shock factory. It was not the best course but they really used the space they have in an inventive way. My hat goes off to them for being so ingenious and putting on a great event. Here is a link to a video that I shot of the event.

The event was pretty cool and I will definitely go back again next year. Big thanks to the guys at Saracen, Ben from Bear’s Bike here in Taiwan and to Martin and everyone at Kind Shock.

For my complete take on the event head over to Pinkbike …